American Son

Running since October 2018Set in a Florida police station, Kendra and Scott, a separated, interracial couple, reunite as they grapple with the disappearance of their teenage son in this Broadway premiere drama.

From the producers: Do you know where your children are? A Florida police station in the middle of the night; a mother searching for her missing teenage son. "American Son" is a gripping tale of two parents caught in our national divide, with their worst fears hanging in the balance.

"American Son" received its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in 2016 after winning the Laurents/Hatcher Award for Best New Play by an Emerging Playwright. A second production was mounted in 2017 at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse. The play marks playwright Christopher Demos-Brown's Broadway debut.

Tight, topical and highly provocative...it deserves much credit for addressing difficult but important societal concerns with thoughtfulness and empathy. At its best, [it] is smart, mysterious and engrossing...Washington gives a revealing, sympathetic performance. That being said, it can also feel thin in premise, didactic in tone and one-dimensional in characterization. In any event, it will instigate a debate among its attendees that may prove to be even more meaningful than the show itself.

Deadline

Washington carries the weight of a nation on her back...in her transformative performance. "American Son" is no masterpiece. It's flaws are significant...[it] struggles mightily to balance the rigors of effective, convincing drama with the blunt urgencies of agitprop. Inconsistencies...keep the play from coalescing into the fully realized family drama it might have been. But as a cri de coeur, from a mother, for her child, for others like him, for her country, "American Son" screams just as loud as it should.